How does urinary tract infection develop in a child?

Urinary tract infections in a child are a very common cause of hospitalization and in this precarious championship are second only to ARVI.

What causes infections? How are they diagnosed in newborns? Is it possible to prevent their appearance? Today's article will be devoted to this.

What is the urinary system

Before talking about the diseases, let's remember which organs belong to the urinary system of man.

• Let's start with the kidneys, the paired organ responsible for filtering the urine.
• From it depart ureters - ducts, through which there is a movement of filtered urine into the bladder (an organ for the accumulation of a given fluid).
• A urethra is a tube through which urine leaves.

Normally, all these structures can not be a breeding ground for microorganisms, since they are sterile. But when bacteria get there from outside on the background of weakening of immunity, a person can develop diseases - urinary tract infections.

In a child, as in an adult, such pathologies include cystitis, pyelonephritis, urethritis, etc. But in children, the risk that the inflammatory process will change into a chronic form is much higher. This is all the more dangerous because of the frequent absence of obvious clinical manifestations of the disease.

Urinary tract infection: causes of it in the child

The main causes of a large number of these diseases are the features of the structure and functioning of the genitourinary system in children.

So, for example, in children under three years of age due to the immaturity of the kidney tissue and weak immunity compared to adults, there are almost no isolated infectious manifestations of the same urethritis or cystitis. Urinary tract infections in the child extend to the entire system, affecting both the renal pelvis, and the urethra, and the bladder.

The pathology itself is most often caused by an E. coli which, being natural in the flora of the large intestine, becomes a source of inflammation, getting into the kidneys, but can be stimulated by staphylococci, streptococci or other types of bacteria.

Considerable danger is represented by helminthic infestations, which reduce the immune background of the child, frequent constipation, dysbiosis, as well as the presence of chronic inflammation on the skin or other foci of infection.

Infection of the urinary tract in the baby: how it manifests itself

As you have already understood, in order to prevent UTI, it is important first of all to observe the rules of hygiene. So, in newborn girls, the wide urinary canal close to the anus can easily become infected, so correct (without soap) and regular soaking plays an important role in preserving the health of the future woman.

But if the infection does happen, the following signs can signal this:

• The child cries when trying to pee;
• The baby's urine smells bad;
• In it appear veins of blood or it becomes turbid;
• The kid loses his appetite;
• The temperature rises;
• There is vomiting.

Each of these symptoms requires treatment to the pediatrician and a thorough examination of the newborn. Untreated urinary tract infections in a child often lead to serious pathologies of the kidneys and other organs at an older age.

Be healthy!